


Haircuts

by shatterheart



Series: Chocobro Oneshots [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Haircuts, Implied Relationships, M/M, Pre-Slash, future ot4, haircut fic, noctis sleeps through his haircuts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 16:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9500849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shatterheart/pseuds/shatterheart
Summary: Noctis keeps missing warp strikes because his fringe has grown too long. He agrees to have Ignis trim it again, as long as the other two members of their party get their hair cut too.or, how Ignis became the team barber on their journey.





	

The pouring rain hadn’t let up all morning. It was after the third time that Noctis had to shove his sodden bangs out of his eyes in order to aim a spell at a particularly resilient gigantoad that he had simply had _enough_. The unruly, too long strands of his hair were affecting his aim, especially weighed down by the rain and Noctis groaned as the toad leaped out of range of his warp-strike at the last second. 

“Uh, a little to the left next time, huh, Noct?” Prompto teased from afar, diving back to aim a few shots at the toad’s behind. 

“Yeah, I got it,” Noctis replied sarcastically as he dove back in to help Ignis, who was taking advantage of Prompto’s back attack to get in a flurry of poisoned strikes with his short swords. 

Gladiolus jumped in while the others had the toad distracted and with a heavy blow of his greatsword, the toad was finally defeated. 

“None the worse for wear,” Ignis said as the battle came to a close, moving to Noctis’ side and carefully brushing himself off.

“Could do without all this mud, though,” Prompto groaned, rubbing at a clump of mud that had landed on his vest during the battle. 

“And this rain,” Noctis added, shoving his bangs back out of his eyes with a groan.

“What, is the weather ruining your hair, princess?” Gladiolus teased as he approached the group, his broadsword disappearing. He too, was covered in splatters of mud, but hardly seemed to care as he went in to playfully shove Noctis. 

Noctis dodged his teasing shove, his lips quirking up on one side. “H-Hey! It’s not that,” he protested, “It’s just in my eyes, I missed a warp ‘cause of it,” 

“What, you mean, more in your eyes than usual, buddy?” Prompto laughed, “Though honestly, I hate this rain too. My hair totally melts in the rain…” 

“Now that you mention it, Noct,” Ignis began, carefully observing Noctis’ face, “It has been awhile since you’ve had a proper haircut. The last time I did it was before we left Insomnia, if I recall correctly.”

Noctis paused, thinking back. “Has it been that long?” 

“Waiiiiiit,” Prompto asked, grinning wide as they made their way back to the Regalia, “ _Ignis_ cuts your hair? Isn’t there like, some royal… _haircutter person_ you hired for that?” 

“As if Noct would let anyone else near his hair,” Gladiolus snorted, reaching out to ruffle said hair. “It was all fits and stubborn, ‘No, I don’t need a haircut’, ever since Noct was young. I saw a pair of ‘royal hairstylists’ chasing him down the hallway one time when he was a little brat, till I grabbed him by the back of the collar,” 

“That was _forever_ ago, Gladio, and only one time...” Noctis groaned in embarrassment.

“Oh really?,” Prompto said, laughing loudly, “Then what happened?”

“Iggy comes walking down the hallway, all proper-like” Gladiolus continued, in spite of the Prince’s embarrassment, grinning wide. “A smock in one hand and some scissors in the other and goes, ’I’ll cut the Prince’s hair,’ as if he became some expert hairstylist overnight...though, knowing Iggy, he probably did...” 

“Oh, that’s hardly true,” Ignis interjected, his lips twitching into a faint smirk. “I practiced for longer than that or I’m sure I wouldn’t have heard the end of it if I had destroyed the Prince’s hair.” 

“Hey, c’mon…” Noctis said, putting up a token protest. Though, he was resigned that the rest of the story would get told if Gladiolus had anything to do with it. 

Prompto laughed, bouncing ahead a few steps and turning back to face them. “What’d Noct do?”

“Then,” Gladiolus continued, “Noct stares up at Iggy for a few seconds and goes, completely straight faced, ‘OK, Ignis can do it, then,’ as if he hadn’t been running all over the castle saying otherwise…then the rest is history. Iggy’s still the only one Noct will let near him with scissors.” 

“Aw, it’s kind of sweet,” Prompto said, though he smiled wide to show he was only kidding, “You really trusted him, even back then, huh?” 

“C’mon, enough of that,” Noctis groaned, though his cheeks burned red at the memory. “Isn’t that the car?” He started heading up towards the road. 

“Yes, I believe so,” Ignis agreed, following him up to the car. “Though, before we change the subject….I’ll give you a haircut tomorrow morning before we set out, Noct. We can’t have you missing warp strikes in battle because your hair is too long,” 

“Ugh, fine,” Noctis agreed, “Though if you don’t believe in Ignis’ skills, why don’t you two stop teasing me, and see for yourselves? I bet Iggy could cut you guys’ hair too, and you wouldn’t want to go back to where ever you get it cut now, either.” 

“What...like, a group haircut day?” Prompto asked, blinking. “My hair is...totally hard to pull off. No offence, Iggy…” 

“He can do it,” Noctis challenged, reaching forward to tug teasingly at a tuft of blonde hair, “Or are you too chicken, blondie?” 

“I’m not!” Prompto argued, “I mean, if it’s okay with Ignis, then…” 

“Certainly. I’m sure I could ‘pull it off’” Ignis replied teasingly, then turned to Gladiolus and quirked an eyebrow, “Gladio?” 

“Hey, I know you can do it,” Gladio agreed easily, reaching up to run a hand through the shaved part of his hair on either side of his head. “I let you do my beard sometimes, don’t I?” 

“Whoa, really?” Prompto said as they all piled into the Regalia, “No fair, am I completely out of the loop here, or what? Iggy’s just been giving everyone free haircuts all this time...and to think, I’ve been spending my own hard earned money...” 

Noctis grinned even as he leaned back against the back door for a nap, “Maybe Specs can make your hair look less like a chocobo butt…” 

“My hair does _not_ look like a chocobo butt!” Prompto exclaimed, though Noctis’ eyes were already closing as Ignis pulled the car out onto the road. 

\--- 

“Soooo….haircut time?” Prompto asked the next morning after they had packed away the last of the cooking supplies from breakfast. For someone who had seemed apprehensive yesterday, he was nearly bouncing in excitement now. 

“What, you volunteering to go first, Prompto? Ready to finally fix that mess on your head?” Gladiolus teased, cornering Prompto into a headlock and messing up his hair.

“Hey!” Prompto protested, yelping and squirming in the larger man’s grasp. “Just for that, you should go first then!” 

“I suppose we can get started,” Ignis agreed, unphased by their roughhousing. “Set up a chair over there, will you, Noct? I need to fetch the scissors and clippers from the boot of the Regalia.”

Noctis stood from where he had been slouching over on his phone, dragging one of their fold out chairs to the middle of the campground and settled back to watch the other two men scuffle with a smirk. He was glad he wasn’t the one having his hair messed up for once. 

Once Ignis had returned with the supplies, he eyed Prompto and Gladiolus critically, folding his arms. 

Prompto looked up from the circle of Gladiolus’ biceps, his blonde hair a rumpled mess. “Save me, Iggy!” 

Ignis chuckled at the sight, unfolding the smock and sliding it over his head to protect his clothing. “Gladio, then...leave Prompto alone and come sit here. I’ll do you first, as you’ll take the least time, I presume?” 

“Sure,” Gladiolus shrugged, finally letting Prompto loose and laughing as he watched the younger man scamper away, desperately trying to fix his hair. 

“Besides,” Ignis said, as he carefully rolled up his sleeves and took his gloves off, “If I do Noct first, he’ll just fall asleep and we’ll spend all morning trying to wake him back up..”

“I resent that,” called Noctis, “I don’t fall asleep _every_ time…”

“Well, that fact remains to be seen, Highness,” Ignis replied, gesturing Gladiolus over to the chair, “Seeing as it’s been happening every time all these years,” 

Gladiolus snorted in agreement, taking a seat in the fold-out chair and grinning good-naturedly as Ignis began to move around him, setting an old towel over his shoulders and pulling the longer portion of his hair out from under it. 

“You sure do know how to treat a guy, Iggy,” Gladiolus said, tilting his head back and leaning it on Ignis’ chest behind him, a playful smirk on his face. “If this is anything like the other day when you gave me a shave, that is…” 

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re referring to,” Ignis retorted, as he cupped the side of Gladiolus’ face gently, running his thumb across the prickly hairs of his jawline then down his neck slowly. He smirked faintly when he felt the larger man’s adam’s apple bob when he swallowed hard at the teasing touch. 

“Oh, maybe I need to do something to jog your memory, later?” Gladiolus replied, eyes half lidded as he allowed Ignis to position his head back facing forward.

“Oh my god, get a room,” Noctis groaned teasingly as he watched their interactions. He elbowed Prompto in the side gently, who had been watching the exchange with wide eyes, freckled cheeks blotching red. He laughed when Prompto yelped in surprise, calling, “Hey!”

“No need to get jealous, Noctis,” Gladiolus called back, as Ignis began to comb the longer parts of his hair back, “Maybe if you’re less of a brat today, Iggy’ll help you shave those two hairs on your chin you manage to grow in sometimes too,” 

“Hey,” Noctis protested, “I can totally grow a beard, I just chose _not_ to look like a mountain man like you,” 

“Mmm, yeah,” Gladiolus replied, sitting still as Ignis tied the long part of his hair back out of the way. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Highness,” 

Ignis took the wireless clippers, setting the guard to it’s shortest setting and tilting Gladiolus’ head to the side slightly with a firm grip on the taller man’s jaw. 

“Now, I know you can stay still, Gladio,” Ignis said firmly as he brought the clippers against Gladiolus’ temples, making short work of the hair growth there until only a very short fuzz remained. 

He carefully faded the portion he had just shaved into Gladiolus’ sideburns, titling the older man’s face this way and that until he finally achieved the signature side shave that Gladiolus had been sporting since before Ignis had met him. He brushed away some of the loose hairs that had fallen from the shave and turned off the clippers, setting them aside. 

“Do you want the rest trimmed too, then?” Ignis asked softly as he released the rest of Gladiolus’ long hair from the elastic band. He ran his long fingers through it gently, rubbing strands of the dark hair between his fingers once he got to the ends, “The ends are a little rough, I could clean them up a little for you, then you’re done.” 

“You’re the boss,” Gladiolus rumbled in agreement. “Go for it,” 

“Wow, he’s pretty good at this, huh?” Prompto said, barely concealed awe in his voice as he watched Ignis work on Gladiolus. His earlier blush had mostly faded, though he still fiddled with the bracelets around his wrist a little nervously. 

“Told you,” Noctis said, looking up from a game of King’s Knight on his phone. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. Specs knows what he’s doing,” 

“Want to go next, then, Prom?” Gladiolus asked as he walked over, brushing a few loose hairs from his shoulders that had managed to get under the towel and sitting down next to Noctis. He slung a casual arm over Noctis’ shoulders, leaning in to look down at his phone. “There’s no way you’re beating my score, by the way, Noct, so don’t even try…” 

“Um, I was already beating you?” Noctis retorted, leaning into the larger man and tapping away at the screen, “Have you ever actually even beaten me? You suck at video games!” 

“Some of us spend our free time training, not staring at a phone screen,” Gladiolus teased, though there was no malice in his voice as he drummed his fingers on Noctis’ shoulder.

Prompto tore his eyes away from the exchange as he heard Ignis calling for him. “Be right there!” he said, standing up and brushing off his pants as he walked over to the chair. Ignis had already cleaned the area of Gladiolus’ hair and was unfolding a fresh towel for him.

“Have a seat,” Ignis urged, setting the towel down over Prompto’s shoulders once he sat down. 

“You’ve nothing to be nervous about,” Ignis said, eyeing the grip Prompto had on the chair’s armrests with a raised eyebrow. “I’ve done this plenty of times. I’m certain I can recreate your usual style, anyways.” 

“No, I believe you! It’s not you,” Prompto said, biting his lip and lowering his voice, “It’s totally fine, I’m just, uh…jumpy, I guess,” 

“Hm,” Ignis agreed, running his fingers through Prompto’s hair, loosening the leftover product and starting to break his usual spikes apart gently. “I’ll wet it a bit, if you don’t mind, just to get this hairspray out,” 

“Y-Yeah, that’s no problem…” Prompto said, fiddling with his bracelets again. He couldn’t help but to shiver a little as Ignis worked, wetting and combing his hair down around his face until there was no product left. Was it normal for it to feel this nice when someone combed your hair? This was totally embarrassing...

“I’ll fetch the scissors and we can get started, but you’ll need to stop squirming, please,” Ignis said, seemingly unaware of Prompto’s plight as he set a firm hand on the back of Prompto’s neck to settle him, then turning away to grab the scissors from the table.

“O-Okay, cool!” Prompto felt his face burning hot in embarrassment, glad Ignis couldn’t see his face from where he stood behind the chair. 

“I’ll start by the back, then we can do your fringe,” Ignis said, “I’ll simply trim everything a little, that way you’ll maintain your current style. Though Noct will still tease you about looking like a chocobo,” 

“‘M not a chocobo,” Prompto pouted, glad to be distracted from his embarrassment with the familiar teasing jab. 

“I should hope not,” Ignis said, his voice light as he began to snip away, carefully trimming the back of Prompto’s hair, holding the scissors vertically against the hairs to keep everything wispy and light instead of bluntly cut. “I daresay you’d have some trouble carrying Gladio around on your back…” 

Prompto laughed at that, his shoulders relaxing a little bit, most of his earlier embarrassment fading as Ignis kept working. “I think the chocobos we do hire already have trouble with that...”

Ignis simply grinned, coming around to the front once the back was done, reaching forward to grip Prompto’s chin and tilt his head to both sides. “Hmm,” he said, eyes appraising. 

“W-What? Something on my face?” Prompto asked, gripping his wrist self-consciously. 

“No,” Ignis replied, letting go of Prompto’s chin to adjust his glasses, “It’s none of my business really, it’s just...have you ever considered leaving your hair down?”

Prompto shook his head, laughing self-deprecatingly, “No way, I look silly like this…makes my face look weird,” 

Ignis tilted Prompto’s head to the side again, then began to carefully comb his usual part back in, trimming the tips of his fringe. “You look...well, it’s actually quite endearing, if I do say so...”

“Aw, man, no way!” Prompto laughed nervously, though he blushed brightly at the compliment. 

Ignis simply smiled softly in reply as he finished trimming the ends of Prompto’s fringe. “There, I’d say that’s a good trim.” 

Prompto pulled out his phone, tapping the screen and activating the camera to look at himself. “Oh, yeah! Not that I didn’t think you could do it…” 

Ignis smirked teasingly, brushing some stray hairs off of Prompto’s shoulders after he removed the towel. “Of course,” he said, humoring the blonde.  
Prompto grinned in return, “Thanks, Ignis.” 

“You can thank me by sending our reluctant Prince over. Though, I hope you’ll reconsider giving the hairspray a break today. I’m sure I’m not the only one who might find it endearing,” Ignis replied, tilting his head towards Noctis meaningfully. 

“H-Huh?” Prompto stuttered, his cheeks burning red again at the implication, “You think?” 

Ignis simply chuckled, turning to grab another towel for Noctis from the pile.

Prompto stood up, running a self conscious hand through his fringe as he approached Noctis and Gladiolus, who were still bent over Noctis’ phone. 

“Hey Noct, your turn,” Prompto said. 

“Lookin’ good, Prom.” Gladiolus said, grinning good-naturedly. 

“Ah, thanks, man,” Prompto said, laughing self-deprecatingly. “Ignis sure knows what he’s doing with those scissors, so I guess I’ll leave it down, just for today though.” 

“Don’t you think, Noct?” Gladiolus continued, his grin turning to a smirk. 

Noctis looked up from his phone, nearly doing a double-take when he saw Prompto before composing himself. 

“Y-Yeah, uh…” Noctis said, a light dusting a pink appearing high on his cheeks as he took in the sight of Prompto with his hair down. “Yeah, I mean, you don’t look like a chocobo anymore, it uh...it looks good.” 

“Yeah?” Prompto asked, unable to hide his answering blush as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. “I’m glad you like it!” 

“Ready, Highness?” Ignis called, fortunately saving them both from more embarrassment. 

Noctis got up and headed over to the chair, steadfastly ignoring the teasing grin on his shield’s face as he passed him. He slumped into the chair, watching Ignis set up around him, the familiar motions soothing, and soon the comforting weight of the towel set on his shoulders. 

“It has been a while, hasn’t it, Noct?” Ignis asked, running a hand through Noctis’ over-long fringe carefully and pushing it back from his forehead. “It’s a miracle you can seen though these on a good day. If only you’d let me style them back, so you could see more clearly?” 

“What, so I can look like you?” Noctis whined, ducking his head away so his bangs fell into his eyes once once. “We go over this every time. It’s still no, Ignis…just do it like you always do it...” 

“It doesn’t hurt to ask, though, I guess after all these years it’s an exercise in futility…” Ignis chuckled, grabbing the comb and spray bottle and beginning to wet down his Prince’s hair. 

Noctis sighed, relaxing under the motions of the comb and the sound of the spray bottle. By the time Ignis had completely combed through his hair, Noctis’ eyes were half closed, nearly lulled to sleep by the repeated motions and the familiar smell of his advisor’s cologne.

Fortunately, Ignis was so used to recreating Noctis’ haircut that he was used to the Prince’s near-catatonic state, and simply started to trim away without speaking as to not disturb him.

As he continued to cut, Ignis gazed over his sleeping Prince’s head at the other two members of their party and was met with the sight of Gladiolus posing in increasingly ridiculous ways for a giggling Prompto’s camera. It was a miracle Noctis could sleep through all the noise they were making. 

As if feeling eyes on him, Gladiolus looked his way and met Ignis’ eyes with a teasing wink as he flexed his muscles. Ignis feigned disinterest as he rolled his eyes and shook his head, returning to the task in front of him, but he couldn't help the small smile that formed on his lips at the older man’s antics. 

As Ignis finished the haircut and put everything away, he went about the arduous task of attempting to wake the Prince, another thing he was well versed in by now. 

“Noct,” he called, gently cupping his Prince’s face, which had slumped forward as Ignis had been cleaning up. 

Noctis’ brow furrowed slightly, but his eyes stayed stubbornly closed even as Ignis continued to call his name for several minutes. 

“If you don’t wake up,” Ignis said, brushing some stray trimmed hairs from Noctis’ nose and cheeks with his thumb, “We’ll be having vegetable stew tonight,” 

“Gross,” Noctis said, one eye peeking open, “No thanks, I want fries.” 

Ignis couldn't help the laugh that burst forth. _It worked every time._

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally like 3000 words of Ignis giving the boys haircuts... lol i'm sorry it just came into my head one day and wouldn't leave until I wrote it. 
> 
> In this universe, at this point in the story the only 2 in an established relationship are Gladiolus and Ignis, though Prompto and Noctis have feelings for each other and are just too awkward to do anything about it LOL. I would like to see if I could develop this into an OT4 eventually, but we'll see how it goes. I have other ideas for other oneshots in this same universe but we'll see if I have time to write them. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
